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TRAGIC SCHOOL FIRE CLAIMS 92 DEAD—A flash fire spread through Our Lady of the Angels grammar school (above) on the northwest side of Chicago and cost the lives of 89 pupils and three nuns, Dec. 1. One hundred others were injured, many seriously. The tragedy, which occurred twenty minutes before closing time, was the third worst school fire in the United States in the last 100 years. Firemen are shown working in intense smoke to bring the fire under con trol. This is a wirephoto.—(NC Photos). A. C. SAMFORD, President & General Manager JAMES H. SAMFORD, Ex, Vice Pres. TONY YAICSH, Vice Pres. A. C. SAMFORD, JR., Vice Pres. J. T. ANDERSON, Sec. & Tress. A. C. Samford INCORPORATED CONTRACTORS AND ENGINEERS P. 0. Box 1229 Albany, Georgia Phone HEmlock 2-7431 ID-49 Archbishop Meyer Offers Requiem Mass Children Throughout Chicago Archdiocese Praf For Pupils, Nuns Dead In Disastrous Fire (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) CHICAGO — School children throughout the Chicago archdiocese joined in praying for the repose of the souls of 89 fellow pupils and three nuns who died (December 1) in a fire at Our Lady of Angels School here. The children attended special Masses in their parishes and received Communion at the re- THE BULLETIN, December 13, 1958—PAGE 3 quest of Archbishop Albert G. Meyer of Chicago. The Archbishop asked them also to pray for other children and nuns injured in the blaze, third worst school fire in the United States in the last 100 years. At the same time prayers of thanksgiving were offered throughout the Chicago area for the fact that some 400 children were rescued from the burned- out section of the school build ing by nuns, priests and fire men. Archbishop Meyer offered Re quiem Mass in Chicago’s North west Armory for the children. On the previous day (December 4) he officiated at a Requiem Mass for the three nuns in Our Lady of Angels. Flags on all public buildings in the city were flown at half-mast until after the services. Archbishop Meyer issued a statement in which he expressed his sympathy to the bereaved families of the dead and injured children. “Words cannot express the profound sense of grief which overwhelms us at a time like this,” the Archbishop said. “Our only recourse is to God in the spirit of faith and of submission to His holy will.” Archbishop Meyer said he was offering his private Masses “for all the dead and for the inten tions of the living, praying God to give us the strength and re signation that can come only from Him. “We ask our blessed Savior and Our Lady of Sorrows to grant us this grace, begging them to look down with pity upon us in our hour of great and indescribable sorrow, as we strive with their help to unite ourselves to their sufferings on Calvary.” Msgr. William E. McManus, archdiocesan superintendent of schools, issued a statement in which he paid tribute to the he roism of the three nuns who died in the blaze. He said they had proved them selves to be “dedicated to their children to the very end.” The dead children — 55 girls and 34 boys — ranged in age from 9 to 15. Almost 100 other children and nuns were hos pitalized with burns, bruises and broken bones, and shock. The first box alarm was turn ed in at 2:42 p. m., just 18 min utes before school was to let out at 3. Within minutes flames, smoke and heat filled the build ing. Upstairs corridors in the two-story building were made all but impassable. The U-shaped brick building had one metal fire escape. Fire Marshal Robert Quinn said an inspection of the school only a week before showed that satis factory fire precautions ' had been taken. He said that the school was “as safe as any in Chicago.” About 1,500 persons were in the school when the blaze broke out. Our Lady of the Angels School is staffed by Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and nine lay teachers. It is located on Chicago’s west side in a middle class residential dis- t r i c t of one-and-two-family frame houses. Two of the three nuns who died in the fire were former Chicagoans. They were Sister Mary Clare Therese, whose par ents live in Cut Off, La. Sister Seraphica, who has a brother in Peoria, 111., taught for all of her 25 years of convent life at the Annunciation parish school here, and at Our Lady of the Angels. She celebrated her . silver jubilee as a nun last Sep tember. Sister Canice entered the con vent. in 1933. Dozens of incidents of heroism and tragedy occurred during the disaster. A nun who declined to give her name told attendants at St. Anne’s Hospital that she felt “untold strength” as she went up and down stairs to the sec ond floor three times, carrying and leading children to safety. Mrs. Eda Shanahan, one of the lay teachers, talked soothingly to her class, trapped by smoke and heat inside a second-story classroom. She kept her children calm until Father Charles Hunt, an assistant at Our Lady of the Angels, and James Raymond, a janitor, got a ladder in position outside a window of the room. Many children crowded onto window ledges and jumped or fell to the pavement 25 feet be low. Others tried to find their way through the smoke-darken ed corridors, grasping the habits of nuns who were leading them or the clothing of classmates. Some children were trampled in the panic. Others, terrified, re fused to move. Firemen found 24 children dead in one classroom alone, ap parently smothered by the smoke. Some still sat at their desks, geography books open at the day’s lesson. Nine - year - old Margaret Chambers had stayed home from school in the morning with a cold, but insisted on returning in the afternoon. She was one of the children who died. Huge crowds of fi antic par ents and passers-by rushed to the scene, impeding ambulances trying to reach the school. Mo thers pleaded with police and firemen to let them enter the burning building to search for Sest Wish e6 St. Teresa's Church ALBANY, GA. We urge you to see this remarkable monument to achieve ment, designed by the J. E. Greiner Company and buiit by the A. C. Samford Organization. ALBANY CONCRETE PRODUCTS CO their children. Archbishop Meyer arrived early. He and Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago stood side by side, watching. Tears streamed down the Archbishop’s cheeks. Later he went to the Cook (Continued on Page 4) GARGANO'S New Expressway Near 5 Points Italicm-American Restaurant Specializing in * PIZZAS And * SPAGHETTI GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES OL Cit izenA an j Southern (Saul op SI (Ian ij SI flan if, Cjc eorqia